They are taller than a car... that means the drive will be fun in the winter. The peak of the mountain is white Blanca all year round even when the snow is gone.
As we drove into town, we were greeted by banners and a giant flag hung between to fire department ladder trucks, and a huge carnival.
Manassa and its neighboring city Sanford were established in 1878, when Brigham Young sent the Saints there to build a settlement. It's named after Manasseh in the Old Testament. During Manassa Days the Population grows from the normal 1,000 resident to 10,000 people. The festivities include a parade, rodeo, Demolition Derby, and Fireworks over the "M" on the mountain.
The town is laid out in a grid pattern like cities and towns in Utah and Idaho. This was also the 1st Stake established in Colorado.
It is also the childhood home of World Champion Boxer and Actor Jack Dempsey, a.k.a the Manassa Mauler.
The Home was relocated to the center of town and is now a small museum.
Dempsey was LDS and known for his great kindnesss and generosity.
The Celebration begins on Thursday evening and last through Saturday night.
The Missionaries helped in the Hamburger booth ...
and had a booth set up in the park.
They handed out over 200 copies of the Book of Mormon during the 2 and 1/2 days.
One of the hand carts the missionaries pulled during the Parade, and two of our lovely Sisters. At one point during the parade our sister missionaries were pulling some of our larger Elders in the handcart. Angels helping them push from behind I'm sure.
Sister Stevenson bonding with the missionaries. President Stevenson passed!
I just barely missed getting a shot of the sea of white on the Avalanche ride...every seat was filled by a missionary. A little fun among all the hard work.
These are the stake offices for the Manassa Stake, built in 1913 and 1914. It was dedicated by Elder James E. Talmage on February 15, 1914... over the doors is written Holiness to the Lord...
I've heard differing stories about it. It was built shortly after they settled the area,
and now serves as the Stake offices and in the lower level is the Bishops Storehouse.
Putting away the hand carts...
We stayed the night on and attended church here the next day as well as a Baptism service for Jordyn.
When there is a Baptism, the Elders call a member of the ward and they come over and fill the Baptismal Font...but when they arrived at the Chapel to set up, they discovered the font was still empty because the person was out of town for the weekend...and the font takes one and one half hours to fill...
...so...they turned on the faucet full blast and formed a Fire Brigade to fill the font as quickly as possible. Every clean container they could find was put into use.
even the children helped, carrying pitcher after pitcher full of water.
The elders carried huge stock pots full of water...
...all the trash cans were washed and put into use...
you can see how good natured everybody was about it...
The font was filled in about half an hour...and the Baptism started only 30 minutes late.
This was definitely a baptism that will not be forgotten. The Chapel was full of people.
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